Easy CREEPY Last Minute Doll Makeup

Dolls are often seen at the center of what is thought of as "horror" or "spooky scary" vibes. They are often spotted lurking in Halloween displays, gothic art, and hair raising horror collections; always there, and always watching.

Dolls have fascinated me for many years and I happen to own a few of my own. The oldest doll I have in my possession I have fondly named Molly. She is dressed as a nun in all black, and is estimated to be well over 180 years old. She was found bricked into the wall of an old Catholic school or hospital, and I was entrusted with her care after I had partially restored her. Molly has since been a great inspiration for my doll SFX (special effects) work, and has expanded my love and fascination of the world of their painted, porcelain faces.

This is a quick, last minute creepy doll look for any spooky event or even just for fun! It doesn't take much, and it's a very easy thing to put your own creative spin on!

Things you might want to have are:

1: Water (This can be in a cup, but I tend to work by a bathroom sink, so any you find easiest.)

2: Water activated face paint, white and black (I find that this is quickest to wipe off, it doesn't smear much when dried, and is much gentler on sensitive skin than oils.)

3: Blush powder/lip gloss (I haven't used the blush sticks before, so if you use that please let me know it it works well!)

4: Black mascara

5: Brushes (I personally use paint brushes.)

6: Beauty/paint blender (Optional, I use a paint blender because I don't have a beauty blender. I use this to make the layers look more even.)

7: One Elmers Glue Stick w/Popsicle stick (Optional, I use it to black out my eyebrows for easier reshaping.)

8: Black eyeshadow (It keeps your eyes looking nice and dark, and won't come off after you blink several times.)

9: Eye contacts (Optional, I do not use these.)

10: Any cute outfit that you want to put together! The cuter the dress/skirt/etc the more it makes your face paint stand out!

11: Wig w/wig cap (Optional.)

I like to put my hair back for this, but that's optional. Elmers Glue is supper easy to apply and wash off. It doesn't get supper messy, and if you want to remove it quickly just put some water on it, rub gently, and it will wash off completely!

You've probably seen makeup artists and cosplayers lick the glue stick, this is supposedly to make application easier, and I find that it helps me so it might help you! Run the glue stick several times over your eyebrow, and use the popsicle stick to move the hairs around a bit to make sure the glue really is covering them. Then you can use the same stick to smooth, flatten, and shape your eyebrows into the way you want them to look.

I went section by section, painting over my whole face, even over both eyelids (this has a purpose for later on). You can do as many coats as you'd like, but I did very few. I would warn against more than two-three coats, as the paint you're trying to apply afterwards will take off the paint underneath it, and you'll have to completely reapply to that area.

Sometimes the brushes will leave weird streaks of uneven paint, so I've taken the paint blender and either dabbed lightly over the area to blend it, or gently stroked down my face to even it out. I didn't want to paint my neck, and it didn't need to be as bright a white as my face. For a quick and easy application, I made the blender damp.

Be careful to squeeze out any excess water, as it will rewet the paint you already applied and make it run. If this happens, pat your face gently till mostly dry, then reapply with a dryer amount.

You can take the blender and dab it in the white paint then gently drag it over your neck, collarbone, or anywhere else you want lightly covered. This will make a very even coat of paint that will make the face pop out more. It also saves a lot more time!

Painting these circles around your eyes can act as easy guidelines for the hollowed eye look. I made these lines supper light just by using the same brush I had used for the white paint and putting it in the black paint pallet.

NOTICE: If you don't like colors mixing you can gently wipe the white (which will gradually disappear) with a wet paper towel.

I lightly "sketched" the circles, going just over the tops of my eyebrows and under my lower eyelid, ending at the top of my orbital bone (the hard bone you feel beneath your eye). You can use your natural face/skull shape for guidelines to really make certain features of your face pop!

Using the same brush you used for the "sketch", lightly fill in the circles you made. The black will lightly go over the white, and create a kind of hazy grey, making darker shading easier to see and accomplish. You can also take this chance to make the circles a bit closer together over the bridge of your nose. Not only does this make your nose look slimmer and longer, but it also increases the depth in your eyes and makes them look deeper.

Now, continuing to use the same brush, (or a new one) make the brush dark with the black face paint, and paint heavily right over your eyelid, stopping at the natural hollow above your eyeball. When this is done, trace a thin line beneath your bottom eyelid. I painted in the water line of one eye, leaving the other one showing. This made my eyes look slightly uneven and puffy.

DISCLAIMER: I apologize for the bad lighting!

Now you can customize how you want your eye shaded! I randomized how I made different parts of the circles darker. Maybe a dark line over part of my eyebrow, maybe a darker line beneath my eyes. You can really do it however you want, but there's no need to worry about doing the exact same thing to both sides. The uneven look is really eye catching and noticeable, invoking a spookier sensation.

(Other perfectionists out there, I see you! Don't worry and remember to just have fun with it!)

I applied a black mascara to my upper lashes, and a little bit to my lower lashes. If flecks of it get on your eyelids or skin below them, blink a few times and it adds a pretty cool shading look to your eyes, it's just personalized contouring!

I put black eyeshadow over my eyelids because the paint will quickly wear away from blinking, so the eyeshadow helps it stay dark longer. I also put a small amount of it on either side of my nose, straight down to its tip. I gently blended the darker areas with my finger, and put some in the hollow beneath my nose as well.

Taking the same black eyeshadow, you can trace a small amount of it at the base of your nostrils and at the sides of your nose. This makes it look more defined, and also mimics the areas of a doll's face that tend to collect the most dust. The supper dark lines you can gently blend out with your finger as well.

Depending on the look you're trying to get, or what you have, the shade of blush you use is really up to you! I used a bit of a darker blush, and gently brushed it under the dark circles around my eyes. I also used a mix of this same dark blush and a slightly lighter one to brush over my cheek bones, making them look sharper and pop out more.

Older dolls tend to have darker, dirty looking lips. The shape of them is also typically very rounded and babyish.

To recreate this look I took a pink lip gloss (you can use a darker pink or any other reddish color you would like) and rounded out the top of my lip. I did not shade in my whole upper lip, leaving the sides white.

With this done, I filled in my whole lower lip and slightly below my lip as well, then extended the corner of my mouth a bit, creating the rounded, carefully shaped illusion. Then I collected a small amount of black eyeshadow on my finger and gently dabbed it over both lips, applying it a bit more heavily on my lower lip. How much you use is completely up to you, I just tend towards a darker look. I didn't worry too much about it being perfectly even; I think the slight imperfections are more eye catching.

The lip shape itself is totally up to you! This is just the style I chose.

Now for the fun part!

To sketch the cracks you don't want the paint to be very dark, otherwise the shading will be harder to see and do. So you can take a damp brush and touch it up over several different areas of the black face paint palette, then sketch the lines however you choose!

I looked at how porcelain tends to crack, which is most common around the eyes and mouth, from there it spirals out in jagged arcs. I painted the cracks within the circles around my eyes and moved out from there across my face.

How you do the lines is, once more, up to you, but I personally prefer thicker, fewer lines. My hands can be supper shaky so it helps me do the smaller details if I feel like I have more space.

NOTICE: Again, I apologize for the bad lighting and pictures!

Now you can make your brush dark with the black paint, and fill in just bare sections within, or even slightly on the outside, of the cracks you sketched. This adds depth and shadow, and helps accentuate the cracking more. When this is done, you can take some of the white face paint and lightly apply it inside the black lines as well. The white will turn out kind of grey, but this is what we want. It doesn't need to be supper bright, it just helps add contrast!

I didn't have a wig I wanted to wear for this, but I found a cute plaid dress that I thought went well. In these pictures I had my hair put up so that you can see my face, but wether you put it up or down is up to you!

This is also the time you add any more touchups you want, more eyeshadow, mascara, or even eye contacts if you have and/or want them!

And there you go! You're all "dolled up" for the seasons spooky festivities!

I really enjoy doing fun SFX work, but even more so I love sharing this passion with others. Turning simple colors into something spooky and unique is a lot of fun for me and hopefully for you as well! I hope that this was clear and easy to follow, and I would love to see what you come up with in the future!